In-situ polymerization intercalation of montmorillonite to achieve Co3O4 barrier dispersion for direct catalytic decomposition of N2O

Herein, the Co-MMT (Co3O4-montmorillonite) catalysts were prepared by coordination-deposition (Co(0.015)-MMT-2(CD)) and deposition-precipitation method (Co(0.015)-MMT-2 (DP)) for the N2O direct decomposition, respectively. The structure, texture, and surface properties of the catalysts are characterized by XRD, TEM, FT-IR, Raman, XPS, and so on. The results show that compared with Co(0.015)-MMT-2(DP), Co(0.015)-MMT-2(CD) achieves barrier dispersion of active phase (Co3O4) by using the layer structure of montmorillonite and has a smaller Co3O4 crystal size, richer oxygen vacancy and higher content of Co2+Oh. In addition, the results of DFT calculation and kinetic calculation indicate that Co2+Oh possesses higher reaction activity than Co2+Td and Co3+Oh, and the TOF value of Co(0.015)-MMT-2(CD) at 400 ℃ is 3 times higher than that of Co(0.015)-MMT-2(DP). Therefore, the Co(0.015)-MMT-2(CD) catalyst shows excellent catalytic activity and tolerance to impurity gases (H2O, NO, and O2), and it can maintain 100% conversion at least 50 h for the direct catalytic decomposition of N2O.